This station was one of the
architectural treasures of Los Angeles
that was built in the 1880's by the
Santa Fe Railroad. It was of Moorish
design and was recognizable by is
great dome that was destroyed in the
Long Beach Earthquake in 1933.
There is an interesting record of the
moment the quake hit. It was during
the filming of a scene of a W. C. Fields
movie. This station was used as a set
of many a silent and early talking
movie including the great Laurel and
Hardy Comedy Classics. After the
Long Beach quake the dome was never
built and was torn down in 1937 along
with oled China Town to make way for
Union Depot which is still in service
today as an Amtrak Station and also as
a movie set for a number of film noir
classics and the movie Silver Streak
starring Gene Wilder, Richard Pryor,
and Jill Clayburgh. One of my
favorites.

Anonymous Guest (IP: 54.225.26.154)

Anonymous Guest (IP: 71.34.105.145)26 May 2008

This is one of the three originals of Manolakas that I own--no image can do them justice. The detail--passion--depth. When I first saw his work almost two decades ago I fell in love with it--and remain so today.